The Tyranny of Secrecy

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PS Even we uptight strategy / nerdy technology guys have a sense of humor, you know. :-)

Political Correctness–The Death Knell of Society

I saw with amusement and sadness this week, a report that NYC’s Department of Education is adding to the list of words it wants to ban from tests for fear that they may offend certain students.

Now, in truth, these words are truly disgusting, words that probably offend you as much as they offend me.

Words like “birthday” and “dinosaur”.

The word “birthday” apparently insults people like Jehovah’s Witnesses who don’t celebrate them (does this mean they never age) while the word “dinosaur” allegedly is offensive to some creationists who think dinosaurs are a lie by the scientific community intended to undermine their faith.

So … “when in Rome” as the expression goes (no offense to people who have never been to Rome), and in the spirit of encouraging the sanitization of the English language (sanitizing using only green products so I don’t offend the uber-ecologists out there), I’d like to add a few things to the list.

Things like the color blue, since blue is also associated with feeling down and so a blue sky, which suggests a beautiful day, may be deemed to be insulting to those who suffer from the scourge of depression.

Hmmmm … maybe I should add scourge to the list since scourge is often associated with the scourging of Jesus and so some atheists may be offended.

Movies like "X-Men” are gender-insensitive so we will refer to them as “X-People”.  Does this imply they were once people but are no longer people?  Would dead people be offended by this? A multi-million dollar government study could get to the bottom of this once and for all.

For Chinese people, the number 4 is homophonous with the word for death so maybe we should cut that one out also.

Hmmmm … I wonder if I just offended someone with the word homophonous.

Speaking of banning words that sound too close to other words, does anyone remember this incident back in 1999 when the use of the word niggardly (which means stingy or miserly) was used?

On January 15, 1999, David Howard, a white aide to Anthony A. Williams, the black mayor of Washington, D.C., used "niggardly" in reference to a budget. This apparently upset one of his black colleagues (identified by Howard as Marshall Brown), who interpreted it as a racial slur and lodged a complaint. As a result, on January 25 Howard tendered his resignation, and Williams accepted it.However, after pressure from the gay community (of which Howard was a member) an internal review into the matter was brought about, and the mayor offered Howard the chance to return to his position as Office of the Public Advocate on February 4. Howard refused but accepted another position with the mayor instead, insisting that he did not feel victimized by the incident. On the contrary, Howard felt that he had learned from the situation. "I used to think it would be great if we could all be colorblind. That's naïve, especially for a white person, because a white person can afford to be colorblind. They don't have to think about race every day. An African American does”.

Thinking of words that sound like others, I wonder if my habit of masticating in public may be offensive to some.  In fact, one of my favorite things to do is go out with friends and masticate together.  I don’t think I could live unless I masticated daily.

My first name, Harry, means to harass by repeated attacks, and so in this “anti-bully society” I guess I won’t be using it anymore.  Maybe I can be like the musical artist Prince who changed his name to a symbol (if I can find one that doesn’t offend someone).

For all of you guys named Richard, I fear for the lawsuits you face from some overly-sensitive man-hater in the workplace if you choose to go with the common abbreviation of your name.

But alas, I digress.

This sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?  If, 20 years ago, we would have said that we would have a society in the future that would try to sanitize our language so much, we would have laughed.

Where does it end? How about this?

I recently had a grievance filed against me by a client who, in the grievance, indicated that the high levels of respect and politeness that I demonstrate to people in the workplace is offensive.  Apparently, such politeness implies I am up to something and so I was asked to stop demonstrating respect and politeness immediately.

What prompted this grievance?

I used the phrase “thank you”.

So why don’t we ban that also?

Think of how much time we could save over a lifetime if we stop expressing gratitude for things!

Personally, I’m offended by ignorance, indifference, apathy, greed and hate emanating from a species that believes it is the pinnacle of evolution but we don’t care about trying to prevent these things so I should stop wasting my energy by being offended.

In fact, the next time I see a kid’s birthday party in the park, I’ll race over and tear down the signs before someone who would be offended by them stumbles upon the party.

And that Christmas tree that is raised in Rockefeller Plaza in NYC every year?

Let’s burn down the next one before an atheist becomes totally offended by it. 

Come to think of it, why don’t we set up an Anti-Offense League (we’ll name it the Pro-Love League because it sounds less offensive) and roam the streets, cleansing everything that offends everyone.

We’ll be heroes – the champions of the easily-offended and the overly-sensitive!  When we are done, the members of the League can then turn on each other and then our jobs will be complete.

And in the years to come, when we have crippled society with a generation that is overly sensitive, excessively easy to offend and can have their entire day disrupted because someone smiled and said “good morning”, we will have achieved the perfect society.

A society afraid to do anything.

Meanwhile, we will continue to use words and phrases like terrorist, WMD, threat, attack and other such things. It seems to be what we focus on anyway, so why not?

Now … in fairness and in the spirit of open-mindedness, I will finish this blog using words that are guaranteed to not offend anyone.

Let ‘s see … it looks like this ……

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The Automatic Mouth–As Dangerous As Automatic Weapons

Watching the Trayvon Martin case develop, it is easy to see how so many challenges have developed in America and around the world.

Many Americans, before even knowing the facts of the case, are demanding that charges be filed against the alleged assailant while holding emotional memorials across the country for the alleged innocent victim.

The challenge is that they are doing this without having any facts, allowing emotion, rhetoric and a few public figures to fuel their anger.  They are demanding that the keepers of due process jail the shooter otherwise they will take matters into their own hands.  Of course, we can’t deny the race card that has been played also … sadly.

These people have already imposed an emotional conviction before waiting for all the facts.

As they get overwhelmed by their emotion, they forget one of the key pillars of American society, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, has been buried under a mountain of venomous emotion.  It almost seems as if such a pillar is not a right but a matter of convenience, to be determined valid or invalid based on each person’s own beliefs of a given situation.

Even President Obama stirred the pot, saying that if he had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.

I wonder how many of these people would feel if someone important to them was the alleged assailant.

In my many years as a strategy advisor, I have observed that the people who don’t like facts, the people who find that obtaining facts is too inconvenient or the people who discover that facts prevent them from carrying out their agenda are easy to pick out.

Not only are they easy to pick out, oftentimes they are also the most dangerous.

They are the ones who can’t discuss or debate issues calmly.  When they realize that facts and data are going against them, they resort to attempts of intimidation, shouting down their opponent or making the attack personal since that is all they have left to “debate” with.

And people allow it, bow to it and fall for it all the time.

When the Martin case was first developing, I made an observation to some people that we should allow due process to fill in our gaps of knowledge and understanding before making a judgement.

I was surprised how many people disagreed (some with venomous, hateful language), that as far as they were concerned, this was a clear-cut case of a racially-motivated killing and that there was nothing to discuss.  Justice must be served, they cry.

Fascinating – they weren’t there, they don’t know either person personally and based on a few tidbits of information, they have committed themselves 100% emotionally to instinctively knowing, judging and convicting someone while shouting down anyone who might suggest that complete knowledge of the event might be useful.

Curiously, they demand that Trayvon Martin’s voice be “allowed to be heard” while at the same time, they shout down everyone else’s.

Now other details appear to be emerging.

I classify these details as “alleged” …. details about Trayvon’s alleged gang connections, alleged small-time drug dealing, alleged suggestions of violence potential and the difference between the original picture issued (clean cut and innocent from 3 years ago) versus a recent picture with tattoos, gold teeth and such.

His suspension from school was as a result of drug possession on school grounds and “behavioral” issues.

Even the original photos of the two people involved suggest that the alleged shooter seemed much more physically intimidating, when in fact, Trayvon Martin was an in-shape, 6’3” young man while the alleged shooter was an overweight 5’9” individual.

If, and I say if, these details are true, then perhaps a different picture would present itself as to what may have happened that night.

But until then, it is important that we have calm, that we not be influenced by hate-laced comments and that we not assume we know the answers before people have had a chance to gather all the facts.

Because as long as we shoot our mouth off before we have armed our minds with knowledge, data and facts (trusting experts to gather this together), our world becomes one ruled by intimidators and bullies and not one guided by the best information at hand.

I hear lots of talk about reducing bulling in the schoolyard and in the workplace.

Let’s lead by example, showing future generations that we really believe that brute-force intimidation in society-at-large is not the way.

After all, if truth and facts don’t matter anymore, let’s bring back the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts and everything else where emotion and influence matter more than truth.  We can jail the scientists and other information seekers while we’re at it since their data and facts are inconvenient also.

We might as well dismantle our school system as well and instead, train children in the art of shouting, bullying, intimidation and discrediting.  Throw out the books of knowledge – we don’t need them anymore.

We should just allow the world to be guided by those who shout the loudest and the longest.

Sound ridiculous?

I don’t think so - it’s what we’re demonstrating in cases like the Martin case.

Passion is important but it is far more valuable when enabled and combined with knowledge instead of ignorance.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS After I posted this, the news reported that Spike Lee had posted the home address of the alleged shooter.  This is shameful behavior on many counts – the alleged shooter is a private citizen, he has not been formally charged or convicted AND he has a price on his head by some vigilantes.

Here’s the best (or worst) part.

Lee posted the wrong address, identifying the home address of someone unrelated to the matter, potentially putting the resident there in mortal danger at the hands of vigilantes.

This is what happens when hate and a desire to put passion before facts dominates someone’s thoughts - the risk of innocent people getting hurt increases significantly, complicating things instead of providing an opportunity to get to the bottom of a matter.

The Power of Misdirection

Many of us have been amazed by magicians over the years who do things that seemingly defy the laws that govern the universe.  Of course most of us know that the brunt of their talent lies in the art of misdirection, where our attention is focused on one thing in order to distract our attention from another.

Unfortunately, many people are using the sad case of the Trayvon Martin death to perform their own act of misdirection.

A lot of politicians, including the President, have stepped in and made this case one of national importance.  A lot of people are calling for national protests, some even able to describe blow-for-blow what happened on the night in question which is pretty amazing given the lack of witnesses. Due-process in America, which says “innocent until proven guilty” seems to have fallen by the wayside and been replaced by a national “conviction-based-on-emotion” process.

Sadly, people like Reverend Jesse Jackson use this opportunity to pull out the race card, saying things like “Blacks are under attack.  Our disparities are great.  Targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business."

These are dangerous words that fuel hate. If you want evidence of what type of hate this fuels, note this:

A handful of members from the New Black Panther Party rallied in Sanford on Saturday and offered a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman's "capture."

"It's time for us, as black men, to take justice in our own hands. If you won't give us justice, we will have to take justice," said Florida organizer Mikhail Muhammad. "An eye for an eye. A life for a life."

The President made it the ultimate case of national importance saying that if he had a son, he probably would have been just like Trayvon.

Such words introduce unnecessary complexity into an already tension-filled situation.

There appears to be hundreds of millions of legal experts in America all of a sudden who know how this case should be handled.  I wish I could say I was one of them but I am not.

Did the police handle this event properly?  I don’t know.  As is often the case with the Internet, truth is almost impossible to see in the fog of exaggeration and intentionally-incorrect information.

The person  being considered the “criminal” made a 911 call and allegedly has suffered injuries as well and so without witnesses, it is difficult to say if this was a cold-blooded, racist-driven killing or an act of self defense.

Meanwhile, groups like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence indicate that as many as 100,000 people in the US are shot or killed every year with a million having been killed by guns in the US since the assassination of Martin Luther King.

And yet, and no offense to the memory of the young man who was killed, the nation has become gripped with this case.

Which, for the President, is the perfect situation.

For as long as the nation is distracted by this case, fewer people are looking in his direction and wondering how we will maintain job growth, how we will address the nation’s still-growing national debt, how we will address our energy self-sufficiency needs, how Europe’s still-unsolved debt concerns affect us or what our military role on the global stage should be moving forward.

I’m not suggesting for one minute that the death of this young man is something the President delights in.  I’m sure that the President is as shocked and saddened as any of us when another young person is cut down before having a chance to live their dreams.

However, the hate-laced rhetoric that fills the media “air-waves” is not helping us get to the truth in this case nor is it helping us stay on track when it comes to solving the larger challenges in the land.

Nor do I see the President, as the leader of America, calling for calm so we can get to the answers.  This is where the importance of strong leadership manifests - to keep us on track in times of challenge instead of allowing the flames of hatred or fear to be fanned.

And so if you’re a leader with a mixed record of solving America’s problems, sad stories such as this one are the perfect misdirection - a distraction from what needs to be solved in America.

Unfortunately, as long as people are screaming at each other, threatening each other and not listening to one another, the opportunity to heal the land and make it stronger is lost.

Instead of fanning the flames of hatred and racism, which Reverend Jackson is doing and the President is accidentally (hopefully accidentally) supporting, we need calm dialog, exchange with purpose and collaboration towards a better America

But is America capable of this anymore?

I’m not sure I know the answer.

Do we have the leadership to guide us toward that better America, where deaths like Trayvon Martin’s don’t happen or people don’t get skewered before process is served?

I’m not sure I know the answer to that either. 

But what I see in our leadership today offers little comfort.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS

Food for thought:

In recent months, the media has been reporting that the President might have difficulty carrying the African American vote as a significant portion of African Americans had become disenchanted with the President’s results-to-date.

Now think of this.

On an earlier blog, I noted a disturbing quote by Hermann Göring that I will quote here:

At the Nuremberg trials, Göring made this observation:

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

When I think of the African American vote and I think of Reverend Jackson’s comment “Blacks are under attack”, I can’t help but think of Göring’s quote.

Sometimes, the more evil action is not to have committed a crime or even to support / endorse the crime but to take advantage of the crime for one’s own purposes.

It is also the most subtle of evils.

But that is conspiracy talk.

Isn’t it?

Something Wicked This Way Comes

For those of you who missed this interesting piece of news while partying on St. Paddy’s day yesterday, President Obama signed into law, an executive order allowing for control of all US resources, namely:

The National Defense Resources Preparedness order gives the Executive Branch the power to control and allocate energy, production, transportation, food, and even water resources by decree under the auspices of national defense and national security.

The order is not limited to wartime implementation, as one of the order's functions includes the command and control of resources in peacetime determinations.

Interesting timing … signing such a law (an extension of a previous executive order) over the weekend when few people are paying attention.  Equally interesting is that in the last couple of years there have been a number of significant laws passed during holidays when people are busy with other “stuff”.

Many people are familiar with the President’s efforts to create a law that provides him with a unilateral Internet kill switch, the ability for the President to “turn off” the Internet should he feel that the existence of the Internet enables a threat to be carried out against the US.

Unfortunately the definition of “threat” is somewhat fuzzy.

Fewer people are aware of Executive Directive 51, an executive directive which the President can invoke without permission of Congress or the Senate that actually dissolves (or allows the bypassing of) the Congress and Senate, allows for the waiving of elections and offers a whole pile of other goodies if the President feels that we face …

…. disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions

Unfortunately the word “disruption” is also fuzzy and somewhat open to interpretation.

If as President, I felt that an upcoming Presidential election could result in my loss and that the policies of the other party could sink the country in one of these areas, I might feel that such a disruption needed to be prevented and I could there invoke Executive Directive 51.

But I’m not a conspiracy guy, so why would I even think of such a scenario?

The interesting thing about this law is that the rights of US citizens are redefined in this directive but they are classified beyond top secret.

I don’t know about you, but when someone tells me that my rights will change but I am not allowed to know what they will be, it doesn’t sound very good.

Even lawmakers such as Congressman Peter DeFazio attempted to find out what is in this bill and was denied, under the guise of “national security concerns”.

Our own lawmakers are not permitted to know the laws of the land and the impact on the constituents whom they serve.

In a number of meetings I have had with Washington DC advisors and think-tank people, they have told me to stop referring to the upcoming events as the Great Correction.  For those who aren’t familiar with me, I have been referring to the pending Great Correction, when the unsustainable practices in our economy, ecology, military and other areas finally hit the point of no-return and create a significant collapse, from which we finally learn how to do it right and we set about correcting our society and the world-at-large.

The reason they tell me that “correction” is a poor choice of words is because a correction implies that things will be fixed / better on the other side when, in their estimation, things will be much different but definitely not better.

Many also refer to a transition “that will not be stopped” (direct quote).  Their descriptions of the transition are disturbing – I will share them in upcoming posts as I digest them.

Some of these people I have met have been presidential advisors to many US Presidents, so I assume they are pretty smart and I would like to assume they are pretty sane.

And as I said before, I am not a conspiracy theory guy.  I run the other way as soon as a conspiracy person opens their mouth.

So What Does This Mean?

As a strategy guy, I don’t like gaps in information, since I know that in business an “I don’t know” or “it’s not important to me right now” answer to an unknown is usually the thing that sinks an organization.

As I digest a lot of information from my highly-connected sources, I see four scenarios, bound together by an unusual and disturbing set of data points whose relationships point to “something” (perhaps the transition that my DC contacts refer to), the scenarios being:

1.  A “transition” is really happening, something that we are not privy to know and since we are not allowed to know, it’s probably not very good for the average citizen.

2.  No such transition is happening and a lot of the news is a smoke screen for something else, a distraction from something else that we shouldn’t know.

3.  Many of the people working in think tanks, advising the President or having a senior role in the military are mentally unstable, not a good scenario when we need these people to be the most sane, lucid people on the planet considering their level of responsibility and the impact that their decisions have on the world.

4.  None of it is as bad as it looks and the legislation merely provides for good governance in case of crisis, as noted by the President, and that the laws will never be used. Laws that will never be used do not need to be on the books and shouldn’t be beyond our own lawmakers to view and understand the ramifications. 

Aren’t our lawmakers the highest authority in the nation – apparently not any more.

As I think about these scenarios, the very existence of the scenarios is disturbing, since none of the choices are very comforting.

Unfortunately, most Americans are too busy trying to keep their head above water to pay attention to what is happening.  When one has to keep food on the table and a roof over the head of their family, nobody cares about what happens on the Hill.

But they should care … while they still can.

I read a disturbing quote the other day by Hermann Göring that I will quote here.  By doing so, I am not making any connection between the terrible, evil, Nazi regime and the current administration.  However, there is much insight that can be gathered from the quote.

At the Nuremberg trials, Göring made this observation:

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

Powerful insight.

Something wicked this way comes.

As a strategy guy, I just wish I knew what it was.  I’ve been told what it is by senior officials but being told what it is and knowing what it is are two different things, especially when what one has been told is too disturbing to believe.

Appropriate preparation depends on facts … which seem either too incredible to comprehend or too difficult to obtain.

Neither of which are helpful at a time when we need truth and authenticity from our leadership.

The laws mentioned previously are not inherently evil by definition.  In fact, in times of emergency, they can actually mean the difference between the US surviving or falling.

What makes the laws good or evil will be the intention behind their usage should the need to use them arise.

The extent to which the laws exercise control over the rest of us can only be understood when our politicians communicate to us in truth and authenticity.

But we only receive such truth and authenticity when we demand it.

What do you think?

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Truth Seekers: Beware Ye Who Enter Here

One of the characteristics about the career I have been blessed to have is that it has given me access to a lot of “interesting” people.  With access to such “interesting” people, I have been able to explore a curiosity of mine for some time, to seek the truth regarding a significant, impactful piece of information that I have felt should have been disclosed to the public many years ago.

As I have moved ever-closer to “the truth”, I have discovered a few things:

1. What I thought was the truth is in fact a truth, a subset of a larger set of circumstances that I wasn’t aware of (and actually wish I didn’t know).

2. Having gotten very close to the truth that I sought, I don’t know what to do with it and in fact, I wonder if I should have pursued it in the first place.

3. Some people, in an effort to hide the truth, are much more passionate about defending it than the ones who seek it.  They may also live by a completely different set of values and ethics when defending it.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

A lot of people who have knowledge of my pursuit have expressed a keen desire for me to spill the beans, with cries of bravado that “we must embrace truth at all cost”.  Of course, spilling the beans doesn’t impact them adversely and so it is easy to root for me from the sidelines.

Some even appear to enjoy the excitement of a “Hollywood moment’, feeling like they are Jason Bourne taking on the system and that in the end, the hero gets the girl, some really cool cars and the gratitude of the world before riding off into the sunset.

Uh huh. 

Having experienced the offer of witness protection as a key witness to the prosecution in a fraud trial some years ago, I can assure you that the reality of such situations is nowhere near as fun and exciting as Hollywood might suggest.

I have discovered, surprisingly since I work hard to help clients plan for unexpected outcomes, that I have been caught off guard with the point that I have reached and that I need to pause and reflect on what I should do next. 

My grandiose plan that I intended to manifest when I reached my destination is proving sorely insufficient and now I find myself in the not-so-enjoyable place of knowing something that I would probably be happier not knowing and in a position where I may not be able to make any change of positive value.

I can’t forget what I have learned and yet wonder if is it even possible to move forward based on what I now know?  Better yet, should I move forward, given that moving forward potentially creates great risk for me and others close to me as I explore a world that plays by a different set of rules?

For someone who has built a career around strategy, measurable outcomes and solving difficult problems, such a position presents a difficult challenge that I must solve.

I am reminded of the importance of not assuming that we know the entire truth when we set out upon a journey.  Oftentimes, information is not revealed until later in the journey and so it is important to not cloud our initial intentions and passions with insufficient information.  Had I known in advance what the big picture looked like in this situation, I may not have explored it at all.

I am also reminded about the importance of preparedness – that there is a strong possibility that a significant change in intention and execution may be in order upon arrival at one’s destination.  It may also be a fact that once one has been exposed to certain events and information, pretending nothing happened is not an option and that choices must be made.

It’s like learning about a planned Mafia hit and deciding one wants to secretly observe and photograph it for “the big scoop”.  Sneaking into the planned location and observing the hit as it’s made, you observe someone famous pulling the trigger and then suddenly you are discovered.  Having been caught, you assure the criminals that if they let you go, you promise you won’t tell anyone what you saw.

Yeah … right.

I know a lot of people who have “dreams of truth”, based on limited or inaccurate information, that they passionately, aggressively and sometimes blindly or ignorantly follow to make their truth known.

They can’t wait to get what they wish for.

The problem is …… they might just find it.

Hopefully they are prepared for it.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS Those who fall into a “truth” by accident or have it thrust upon them unexpectedly get a pass on being prepared in advance.  They have my deepest sympathy or heartiest congratulations, depending on the nature of the event!

Closing Wisdom From Andrew Breitbart

A lot of people were surprised and saddened to hear that Andrew Breitbart, a well known publisher and conservative media personality, had died.  Mr. Breitbart will be remembered for such notable things as forcing former Congressman Anthony Weiner to come clean in regards to reports of his dalliances via provocative photos sent from his cell phone.

His book, “Righteous Indignation” concludes with the following paragraph that I found to be very powerful.

"I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and-famously-I enjoy making enemies. Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I've lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I've gained hundreds, thousands -- who knows? -- of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night."

In quoting Mr. Breitbart, I’m not saying that everything he did or how he did it was right.

However, he followed his passion and let it guide him (or drive him).

He was authentic – true to his calling and his sense of purpose.

I often wonder (and have often written about) the potential that we would create on this planet if only we would follow our passion in the same way.

The people who have intention to carry out acts of hatred, evil and greed carry out their passion every day.  They don’t wait for permission and don’t ask for forgiveness.

If the people who have intent on doing good deeds followed their passion with equal tenacity, we would see a lot less evil in the world.

One of my favorite quotes attributed to Howard Thurman, author, theologian and educator, reads:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive

John Ruskin, artist, critic, social thinker and philanthropist, had a rock on his desk with one word engraved in it.  It read:

Today

If only more people could put the two themes together to bring their potential and purpose into the light sooner, rather than wait for the perfect moment that never comes, then we might see the world develop in the way that we spend so much time dreaming and hoping for.

Not all of it would be perfect.

But since when has waiting for things to be perfect always produced a perfect result?

Create a great day for yourself and others.

In service and servanthood,

Harry